Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Published in conjunction with an exhibition organized by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, this volume describes and displays the powerful work of Clemente (b. 1952, Naples), a dramatic Neo- expressionist who divides his time (and his artistic attention) between the "three worlds" of Rome, Madras, and New York. With 180 illustrations, 110 in color. 9 3/4 x11 1/2 ". Annotation(c) 2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

In dreamlike juxtaposition, ordinary objects and images float through the traditional materials with which Clemente creates his unique world. These images, in ink, gouache, watercolor, and a variety of other media, are at times disturbing, amusing, and provocative but always original. This work, published in conjunction with a traveling exhibition organized by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, presents the synthesis of the influences of geography and culture upon the artist. There is mysticism and kitsch, mythology and classical art in the small-scale, surreal world of Clemente. Accompanying text explores the personality and performance in biographical, geographical, and philosophical aspects and excellent illustrations point up the theme of renewal outside everyday experience.-- Paula Frosch, Metropolitan Museum of Art Lib., New York (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

One of the most imaginative figurative artists of his generation, Francesco Clemente gives concrete form to psychic states, febrile projects of his relentless quest for unity. In Hunger , a bent, apparently nude man bites down bloodily on the trunk of a huge snake coiled in a circle, devouring its own tail against an ominous smoky violet sky and green sea. Glowingly colorful portraits evoke shades of despair, guilt, joy, rage, rebellion and disillusionment. One series of paintings fuses the style of classical Indian miniatures with popular, kitsch, erotic and mythological imagery. The Naples-born painter, who divides his time between Rome, New York and Madras, creates a fragmentary circus of the mind whose phantasms attest to the fact that every artwork is an open-ended set of possibilities resisting literal definition. This lavishly illustrated catalogue documents a touring exhibition that opened at the Philadelphia Museum, where Percy is curator of drawings. Foye is a publisher of prints and art books. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

CHOICE Review

In this catalog for the Italian artist's 1990 exhibition of works on paper at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, each of the essays refers to one of the three locations or "worlds" in which the art was created: Italy, Madras, and New York City. Ann Percy (the organizer of the exhibition) is a distinguished curator from the Philadelphia Museum of Art; Foye is an editor and publisher of books on contemporary artists. Designer Ettore Scottsass's brief essay is somewhat fawning, but it sets the tone for the catalog. Clemente is a kind of note-taker, a journal keeper for every aspect of his spiritual, physical, and intellectual life. His images from diverse cultures seem connected, just as Jack Kerouac's stream-of-consciousness writing, typed on a yellow roll of paper, seems connected, solely to the sponge of one temperament. Sheets of paper are like storyboards from Clemente's world: today, Indian figures floating dismembered against the sky; tomorrow, a pensive drawing of Jean Michel Basquiat peering from behind a flower. The catalog includes good-quality illustrations and perhaps an overabundance of supportive text. Clemente has collaborated with poets like Alan Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, and Robert Creeley. Therefore the catalog might be useful to some English-literature students as well as to some art-history students on the undergraduate level. -D. Lent, Bates College